During the War of the American Revolution, the annual death rate from disease among British troops was about 1-percent for men in England, 6-percent for those in New York, 11-percent for those aboard transports bound for the West Indies, and 16-percent for those actually stationed in the West Indies.

Commanding his fellow-citizens during a siege of their city, Leonides of Byzantium found it difficult to keep them manning the walls, in preference to flocking to taverns for a bit of something to drink, and in an attempt to keep them at their posts, set up several wine shops on the walls.

During the 1920s, a full set of uniforms for a newly minted ensign in the U.S. Navy ran over $2,000, at a time when his annual base pay was only $1,500.

Approximately 30 million men and women served in the Soviet armed forces during World War II, of whom some 8 million perished.

In February 1939, learning that a midshipman’s cruise planned for his ship was to include training in the use of the .50-caliber anti-aircraft machinegun, the skipper of the USS Arkansas (BB-33) wrote to the Navy Department, to note that he would be happy to comply, but “ . . . it is felt that .50-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns should be installed.”

Heinrich “Heinz” Hitler, nephew of Der Führer, served as a 19-year old signals NCO in the 23rd Artillery Regiment during Operation Barbarossa, until he was captured in January of 1942, and disappeared into the Soviet prison camp system.

Of 170,000 men who volunteered to join the U.S. Navy between April 1, 1934 and April 1, 1935, only 9,000 were accepted

Of the estimated 100,000 Royal Navy personnel who died in the service between 1793 and1815, a time of protracted war with France, as well as the War of 1812 with the U.S., and a number of smaller campaigns here and there around the world, only about 7-percent were lost in combat, while some 80-percent succumbed to disease or accidents, and 13-percent to the hazards of the sea.